Science-fiction warships and the exploration-combat trade-off

What is the panel’s favourite science-fiction warship?

Several designs are chosen, with the Akira class praised for visibly combining heavy armament, fighters, shuttles, and engineering support in a coherent combat design.

The speakers nominate ships from several fictional settings, including the Mars-class dreadnought, Glorious Heritage designs, and the Akira class from Star Trek. Their central design criticism is aimed at a service that insists it is exploratory while repeatedly relying on the same ships for combat. A plausible dual-use vessel would carry shuttle space, support craft, and modular facilities that could be exchanged for fighters and wartime equipment when required. The Akira is favoured because its torpedo armament, phasers, hangar capacity, and support craft make it read as a purpose-built warship that can explore, rather than an exploration ship pressed into battle.